Modern motor vehicle engines typically utilize a catalytic converter to reduce the exhaust gas emissions produced by the engine. Such converters operate to chemically alter the exhaust gas composition produced by the engine to help meet various environmental regulations governing tailpipe emissions. When operating properly, modem catalytic converters can significantly reduce the concentration of several undesirable components of exhaust gases.
Governmental regulations are imposing increasingly stringent standards for the efficacy of catalytic converters. Known methods for determining the efficacy of catalytic converters often have one or more of a variety of shortcomings, including being unable to quantify the efficacy of the converter, and causing unwanted side effects such as engine surge during efficacy testing, producing exhaust gases containing components of sufficient concentration to contribute to catalyst degradation, and emitting exhaust gases which exceed normal allowable levels.
Accordingly, there is a need for a catalytic converter testing method and system which provides an accurate, quantifiable measure of catalytic converter efficacy without producing the aforesaid unwanted side-effects.